The 2024 Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) season ended with the KIA Tigers winning the pennant, but the free agency market is about to open, and it’s time to get organized.
The KBO will announce free agent eligibility five days after the Korean Series ends. Eligible players will have two days to apply to the KBO for approval to exercise their free agency rights, and the KBO will announce the players who have exercised their free agency rights on the day after the deadline. FA-approved players can negotiate with any club (including overseas clubs) for a free agent contract starting the day after the announcement.
LG, which won the overall title last year, entered the postseason this year as the third-place team in the regular season and was eliminated in the playoffs by Samsung in three games to one. It will aim to challenge for the top spot again next year.
LG’s pitcher Choi Won-tae will be eligible for free agency. “We have to see if Choi Won-tae will apply for free agency or if he will choose to be a free agent again,” said manager Cha Myung-seok. If Choi Won-tae applies for free agency, the club will decide the direction of negotiations.
LG’s most recent free agent signing was Park Dong-won after the 2022 season.
“We will decide after checking how much room we have in the salary cap. We are interested in S-level players,” he said. He didn’t cut off his comments with “only internal free agents” or “not interested in external free agents,” but left room for interpretation.
There is room in the salary cap. The KBO has raised the salary cap significantly in its second year of implementation. At its third board meeting on July 31, the KBO voted to adjust the salary cap and change its name.
It was decided to raise the cap for each club in 2025 to 13.716 billion won, a 20 percent increase from the current 11.420638 billion won. 토토사이트 That’s an increase of about 2.3 billion won.
The KBO, which first implemented the salary cap in 2023, was supposed to freeze it at 11.4 billion won for three years until 2025, but as player salaries increased significantly due to inflation and other factors, some clubs argued that the salary cap should be raised, and the board ultimately approved it.
The number of S-class players in this free agency market is small.
SSG’s Choi Jung, the biggest free agent, will be eligible for his third free agency, and SSG is already trying to hold on to him. It is said that they are close to reaching an agreement with a four-year, 10 billion won contract.
On the pitching side, Choi Won-tae and Uhm Sang-baek are the most prominent starting pitchers. The bullpen options include Kim Won-joong, Koo Seung-min, Jang Hyun-sik, Lee Yong-chan, and Kim Kang-ryul. In the infield, Shim Woo-joon and Heo Kyung-min (if he opts out) will be free agents.
LG will have a starting void if Choi Won-tae declares free agency and leaves for another team. LG’s weakest link this year was its bullpen. LG ranked first in the league in bullpen ERA from 2021 to 2023. Last year’s bullpen ERA of 3.43 was the best among the 10 clubs, but this year, the bullpen ERA skyrocketed to 5.21, dropping to sixth place.
There aren’t many S-level arms on the free agent market. If you have salary cap space, who are the most attractive outside free agents?